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Stesso

Chainsaw Bar Maintenance and Chain Tensioning

16:16
22:13
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How the Pro's Sharpen a Chainsaw 4K

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What happens here

After sharpening, perform essential bar maintenance. First, remove the chain from the chainsaw. Use a bar groove cleaner (or similar thin, stiff tool) to clear any sawdust, dirt, or debris from the bar groove. This ensures proper oil flow and reduces friction. Next, deburr the edges of the bar using a flat file or sandpaper. Run the file along both sides of the bar to remove any raised edges or burrs that can form from cutting. Check the bar for trueness by placing it on a flat surface; it should lie perfectly flat without rocking or showing any twists. If it's bent or twisted, it will severely affect cutting performance. Finally, ensure the sprocket at the tip of the bar is properly lubricated. If your bar has a grease port (not all do), use a specialized grease gun to inject grease into it, ensuring the sprocket moves freely without binding. This prevents premature wear and overheating. Reinstall the chain, ensuring it moves smoothly through the bar with a good, even flow when pulled manually (with the saw off and chain brake disengaged). The chain should not be too tight (binding, excessive wear) or too loose (falling off, poor cutting). Proper tension allows you to barely see the bottom of the drive links when lifting the chain slightly in the middle of the bar.

Goal: Perform essential bar maintenance and properly tension the chainsaw chain.

Tools and materials

  • Bar Groove Cleaner Unbranded — Cleaning debris from the chainsaw bar groove
  • Chainsaw Bar Oregon — The item to be maintained
  • Chainsaw Stihl — Checking chain tension and general maintenance
  • Flat File Unbranded — Deburring the edges of the chainsaw bar
  • Grease Gun Unbranded — Lubricating the bar tip sprocket
  • Specialized Grease — Lubricating the bar tip sprocket

What they say

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get into the next part of this video bar maintenance all right I'm ready Tanner are you ready another key thing that you don't want to go without first thing I do when I pull a bar off you can use this is the tool we have you can use anything okay just go through your bar quack clean it out get the gunk out of there okay so your oil can move through so show me that one more time and I want to get in here close so I can actually see how this will just go in here scrape it all the way out this one's pretty clean I mean sometimes these chains can get so they get so this this inner the channel will just get full the channel gets full of crap and when that gets full of crap your bar is going to have more for your chains going to have more friction on your bar it's going to produce heat and it can actually blue your bar right more so if your chains type oh you're also not going to have as much oil flow oh okay okay keep it clean I'll get the oil flowing throughout the whole bar all right and we've got to deburr the edges I think yeah so if you can take this you should be able to just go past that and if you can see there's a lip right there this is one of our really old bars so what we gotta do is you can either take some sandpaper or a flat file and just work those edges off get those deburred hey will you flip that put that furry Edge right up to this Edge right here so I can get real tight with that thank you for a few reasons okay that's from your chain being too tight okay so your Chain's knocking on go through the bar smoothly okay it's got more drag and it's also gonna pinch more now this is wider than your bar and your teeth so this is going to get caught and you're caught oh oh okay all right so um how do we check the trueness of your because I've seen I've had bars get pinched in trees I've seen bench bars and trees yep it happens to everybody I don't care how good you think you are right it just happens just happens it's good to check so we have a flat bar I don't have them with me you can use a flat table um a level but you just want to lay your bar flat and feel it out make sure it's not twist or bent okay that's really going to affect your cutting you can have a very sharp chain but if your bar is bad you're not doing any okay so just stick it on a flat surface and just if your tip's sticking up if you can rock it if it looks like a banana and I see we've got an oil Port up here yep again not all saws we'll have that we have a little grease gun you…

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